Pine Barrens

The Pine Barrens is a heavily forested area of coastal plain in seven of New Jersey's counties. Despite its proximity to urban areas such as Philadelphia and New York City, it is mostly rural and undisturbed, and the Pinelands border the heavily-travelled Garden State Parkway to the east and the Atlantic City Expressway to the south. In 1978, the US Congress passed legislation to designate 1.1 million acres of the Pine Barrens as a national reserve to preserve its ecology.